By Bettye Craft
Students enrolled in the Communities in Schools after school program at Tillicum were provided bike helmets this month as the final part of Katie Howard’s Girl Scout Gold Award project.
During the school year Katie has met with the students each month and developed an activity to highlight child safety issues and in June the issue was bike safety. As part of the project she provided a display and handouts in English and Spanish for parents at each monthly family meeting.
She also designed posters for display in the community center. Topics included poison prevention, playground safety, choking prevention, dog bite prevention and toy safety among others. Katie utilized donations to purchase the helmets and any child in the after school program who requested a helmet was provided one.
More than 40 helmets were purchased from West Pierce Fire Dept. Batallion Chief Hallie McCurdy, Captain Scott Adams, and Captain Michelle Johnson completed the fittings. The cost for a bike helmet purchased through the Fire Dept is $7 if you are interested in buying one. Communities in Schools Lakewood provides services to students in several schools in the Clover Park District and you can help by being a mentor, volunteering in the after school program or help at a special event. If you are interested in volunteering with Communities in Schools in Lakewood you can contact them at 589-7489 or at their email kidsandfamilies@cislakewood.